Holder for hotel-registers.



No. 808,181. PATENTBD DEC.26,1905. J. G. WILLIAMS.

HOLDER FOR HOTEL REGISTERS.

APPLICATION FILED AUG.1.1905.

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Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 26, 1905.

Application filed August 1, 1905. Serial Nox 272,247.

To all 1071 0772 it may concern:

7-. Be it known that I, J OSEPH GILTNER WIL- LIAMS, a citizen of the United States, residing at N o. 830 Fourth avenue south, in the city of Minneapolis, in the county of Hennepin and State of Minnesota, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Holders for Hotel-Registers, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to hotel-registers in which the book for registering the names is secured to a revolving frame.

The objects of myimprovement are to provide improved means for securing said book to said frame, for holding a blotter between those pages of the book which are in use, to render said holder readily removable, so as to change the blotter to a new positionthat is, so as to change it to a position between fresh pages-andto facilitate the operation of in serting a fresh blotting-sheet. I attain these objects by the mechanism shown in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a perspective view showing the register attached to the revolving frame placed upon a hotel-desk. Fig. 2 is a plan View of the revolving register holder with the register or book removed. Fig. 3 is a vertical section of the same through the line 00 a, Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a plan View of the holder in which the blotter is held and by which the register is secured to the revolving frame. Fig. 5 is a transverse section of the same through the line y y, Fig. 4. Fig. 6 is the same as Fig. 5, but showing the blotter inserted in the cylinder before the rod is placed therein, and Fig. 7 is a detail showing the open loop at one side of the register-frame.

Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

The usual hotel-desk is designated by 1, upon which is placed the frame 2 of the revolving register-holder, the said frame being supported upon its circular base 3, which is provided with rubber feet 15, that come in immediate contact with the desk. Said frame 2 is secured to said base 3 by means of a central pivot 4. Ball-bearings 5 are placed in a groove formed in the upper surface of the circular base 3, and the circular way 6 of the frame 2 rests upon these ball-bearings, as shown in Fig. 3. Said frame 2 is rectangular in shape and at the center line, at two opposite sides or edges thereof, are provided loops 7 and 8. The loop 7 is closed, while the loop 8 is provided with a slot or entrance 9, which is cut at an angle, as shown, respectively, in Figs. 3 and 7. The openings in said loops are elongated vertically, as shown in the same figures. The register 10 is a book of the usual character for such purposes and is held upon said frame 2 by means of the rod 11, which is provided at one end with a knob 12 and a shoulder 16. The rod 11 passes longitudinally through a longitudinally-slotted tube 13, securing therein the blotter 14, and said rod is at its respective ends placed within the said loops 7 and 8, thus securing said register to the frame and the said blotter between the pages of the register, as shown in Fig. 1.

The operation of my devices is as follows: The said revolving frame 2 is placed upon the desk 1, and the said register 10, open at the point desired for use, is laid upon the said frame 2. The sheet of blotting-paper 14, which is approximately of the same size as the leaves of the register, is inserted at one edge, through said slot, into the tube 13, as shown in Fig. 6. The rod 11 is then inserted at one end of said tube and against one side of that portion of the blotter inclosed in said tube, and said rod is pressed entirely through the tube until the shoulder 16 is against the end of the tube, thus crowding that portion of the blotter contained within the tube against the wall of the tube upon one side, as

shown in Fig. 5, whereby the blotter is held securely to and within said tube, so that it cannot be pulled from said slot, which it has entered, by reason of the friction created by the pressure of the blotter against the inner wall of the tube. The plain end of said rod 11 is then inserted within the closed loop 7, and the rod and tube are brought across the open register at the base of the leaves and pressed downward until the end of the rod provided with the said knob 12 is forced through the entrance 9 into the loop 8. The spring of the book or register will cause the rod to rise to the top of the elongated openings in said loops 7 and 8. The shoulder 16 being on one side of the loop 8 and the knob 12 upon the other, the rod 11 and the blotter 14 are always held in proper adjustment to the frame and register. The parts are then held firmly and securely in the manner clearly shown in Fig. 1. The register 10 may be opened and closed over the said rod and tube, while the blotter 14 is held between the leaves of the register which are at the time in use and can be turned from side to side, so as to blot either of the exposed pages. Then the said leaves in use have been filled, the blotter 14, with the rod 11 and tube 13, can be removed in a moment by catching hold of the knob 12 and pressing downward thereon until the rod can be withdrawn from loop 8 through the entrance 9. A leaf of the register will then be turned and the blotter, with the rod and tube inserted in the new position, as before. The vertical elongation of the openings in said loops 7 and 8 permits sufficient play to adapt the holder to registers of different thicknesses, while the entrance 9, being cut from without at a downward slant or angle, assists in entering the knob end of the rod into the loop 8 and leaves a sufiicient portion of the opening of the loop 8 between the inner end of said entrance 9 and the upper bearing of said loop. This feature prevents the rod 11 from coming out of position in the said loop 8, except as it is removed purposely. The described manner of holding a blotter and securing it within the register also permits of a change of position of the blotter to operate on new pages very quickly, while a new blotter may be substituted in a moment by withdrawing the rod 1]. from. the

tube 18 and inserting a new blotter therein when the old one has become soiled.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

In a holder for hotel-registers, the combination with a register frame adapted for holding the register in an open position, said frame being provided with the loop 7 which is closed and with the loop 8, which is provided with an entrance cut at an angle, of a rod. plain at one end and provided with a shoulder and knob at the other, and a tube having a longitudinal slot therein, said tube being adapted to receive the edge of a sheet of blotting-paper through said slot and said rod fitted to said tube and adapted to bind said blotter therein by pressure thereof against the wall of the tube at one side, said rod being also adapted to hold such blotter between the pages of the register and to secure said register to said frame, substantially as shown and described.

JOSEPH. GILTNER WILLIAMS.

lVitnesses:

IKE E. 0. PAGE, W. W. l\ l-CCALL. 

